Tuesday, November 22, 2016

1) Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa: I know that several people won big matches this week. Goldberg squashed Brock Lesnar and there are new Lucha Underground and NXT Champions. Honestly though, there was nobody else I even considered for this spot. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa had an excellent tag match at TakeOver: Brooklyn that was my favorite of the year. They managed to best it and then some at TakeOver: Toronto this week. #DIY vs. The Revival got the rare ***** treatment from me and it absolutely deserved it. Both teams did every little right to make a perfect match. The right decision was made too as Gargano and Ciampa captured the titles in an emotional moment. There were a lot of great matches this week (I believe I gave out four ****+ scores) but nothing came even close to touching this. The Revival are the best tag team on the planet but DIY isn't far behind.2) Sexy Star: In Lucha Underground history, there have been three Aztec Warfare matches for the title. All three times, we've had new champions (granted the first was to crown the inaugural champion but still). "The Monster" Matanza Cueto had held the title since Aztec Warfare II last season. He entered at number one and dominated before taking a barrage of moves and getting eliminated, guaranteeing a new champion. It came down to former champion Mil Muertes and Sexy Star. Sexy Star pulled off the big upset to become the first female champion in Lucha Underground history. I'm not the biggest Sexy Star fan but they have kind of been building to this since season one. It was a huge win in a great match for Sexy Star.

3) Goldberg: I gave no shits about Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar and I'll give no shits about it going forward. Even when Goldberg got the three count, I didn't have a super shocked reaction. I was more just like "oh wow," and then went about my day. Either way you look at it though, beating Brock Lesnar in under two minutes deserves some sort of accolade. I'm sure we'll get a rematch or two, but this was done for shock value and for a lot of people, it worked. Goldberg announced that he will be in the Royal Rumble, which is alright as long as he doesn't win. Him as WWE Champion in 2016 sounds way worse than the Rock as champion in 2013.4) Samoa Joe: Everyone, myself included, fully expected Shinsuke Nakamura to retain his title at TakeOver. Instead, the undefeated champion dropped the title in his first defense back to the man he originally dethroned, Samoa Joe. Joe had to use a low blow to help get to that point, but regardless of how it happened, Joe became the first two time NXT Champion. What this means going forward is unclear. Does the feud continue? Does Joe stay in NXT late into 2017? Is Shinsuke Nakamura getting a callup sooner than expected? Also of note, this match was a marked improvement on the first Joe/Nakamura outing.5) Bray Wyatt: Along with Randy Orton, survived for Team Smackdown and got the winning pin on Roman Reigns.